Is Colin Firth the New ‘Oldboy’ Villain?

The Oscar-winning star of The King's Speech in talks to join Spike Lee's creepy new remake.

When last we heard from Oldboy, Spike Lee's remake of Park Chan-wook's disturbing revenge thriller, Josh Brolin had been attached to star and… that's about it. Spike Lee was busy with other projects and other news seemed unlikely for a while. Well, all that's changed: Colin Firth has reportedly been offered the villain role in the American version of Oldboy, a role that's small in the original film but meaty, and seriously, seriously f**ked up. We'd say more, but if you're one of the five people who haven't seen the original yet, we wouldn't want to ruin the surprise.

Twitch reports that Firth has been offered the role, opposite Brolin as a man who is imprisoned for decades in a hotel for no apparent reason, only to be just as confusingly released. His roaring rampage of revenge would lead him directly to Firth's front door, where things get more insane than ever. Firth is an excellent fit for the role: suave and sophisticated, and the revelations he unleashes would seem particularly ironic and creepy coming from his dulcet tones.

Ironically, Firth was set to follow his Oscar-winning turn in The King's Speech with Stoker, a film directed by the first Oldboy director, Park Chan-wook, but Twitch is reporting that this has fallen through. It's the first we've heard about that, but sometimes these things fall through the cracks. Otherwise, Firth's been busying himself with the spy drama Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and the Coen Bros.-scripted remake of the classic heist caper Gambit, alongside Cameron Diaz and Alan Rickman.

CraveOnline will be back with more Oldboy news. Until then, try the squid! It's particularly fresh today.